Using SQLite

General Syntax

Before getting into specific commands in SQL, it is worth looking at the general language structure. Like most languages, SQL has a fairly complete expression syntax that can be used to define command parameters. A more detailed description of the expression support can be found in Appendix D.

Basic Syntax

SQL consists of a number of different commands, such as CREATE TABLE or INSERT. These commands are issued and processed one at a time. Each command implements a different action or feature of the database system.

Although it is customary to use all capital letters for SQL commands and keywords, SQL is a case-insensitive^[1] language. All commands and keywords are case insensitive, as are identifiers (such as table names and column names).

Identifiers must be given as literals. If necessary, identifiers can be enclosed in the standards compliant double-quotes (" ") to allow the inclusion of spaces or other nonstandard characters in an identifier. SQLite also allows identifiers to be enclosed in square brackets ([ ]) or back ticks (` `) for compatibility with other popular database products. SQLite reserves the use of any identifier that uses sqlite_ as a prefix.

SQL is whitespace insensitive, including line breaks. Individual statements are separated by a semicolon. If you’re using an interactive application, such as the sqlite3 command-line tool, then you’ll need to use a semicolon to indicate the end of a statement. The semicolon is not strictly required for single statements, ...